Disaster Resilience and Human Settlements in the Anthropocene

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the book’s theme, ‘Disaster Resilience and Human Settlements: Emerging Perspectives in the Anthropocene’. First, the chapter sets the context starting from the emerging perspectives on disaster resilience and human settlements in the larger context of the proposed new geological era of Anthropocene. It explores the impact of disasters on the human settlements, giving examples and illustrating the theoretical reference framework regarding the birth of the idea of the Anthropocene. Second, the chapter focuses on the interdisciplinary nature of the ‘disaster resilience and human settlements’ theme in relation to the various global development agendas, including the Expanded Brown Agenda, the Hyogo Framework of Action, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, and the New Urban Agenda. In doing so, it dwells in particular on the theme of social vulnerability as an element capable of transforming an extreme natural event into disaster. From the various international agendas, it emerges, that the current and emerging perspectives on disaster resilience via-a-vis must be studied and addressed through a holistic and integrated approach. Such an approach ought to involve natural and social scientists, humanists, planners, policymakers, and professionals in the global debate. Finally, the chapter introduces the structure of the book including its various parts and the outlines of the papers presented therein.